average
a quantity, rating, or the like that represents or approximates an arithmetic mean: Her golf average is in the 90s. My average in science has gone from B to C this semester.
a typical amount, rate, degree, etc.; norm.
Statistics. arithmetic mean.
Mathematics. a quantity intermediate to a set of quantities.
Commerce.
a charge paid by the master of a ship for such services as pilotage or towage.
an expense, partial loss, or damage to a ship or cargo.
the incidence of such an expense or loss to the owners or their insurers.
an equitable apportionment among all the interested parties of such an expense or loss.: Compare general average, particular average.
of or relating to an average; estimated by average; forming an average: The average rainfall there is 180 inches.
typical; common; ordinary: The average secretary couldn't handle such a workload. His grades were nothing special, only average.
to find an average value for (a variable quantity); reduce to a mean: We averaged the price of milk in five neighborhood stores.
(of a variable quantity) to have as its arithmetic mean: Wheat averages 56 pounds to a bushel.
to do or have on the average: He averages seven hours of sleep a night.
to have or show an average: to average as expected.
average down, to purchase more of a security or commodity at a lower price to reduce the average cost of one's holdings.
average out,
to come out of a security or commodity transaction with a profit or without a loss.
to reach an average or other figure: His taxes should average out to about a fifth of his income.
average up, to purchase more of a security or commodity at a higher price to take advantage of a contemplated further rise in prices.
Idioms about average
on the / an average, usually; typically: She can read 50 pages an hour, on the average.
Origin of average
1Other words from average
- av·er·age·a·ble, adjective
- av·er·age·ly, adverb
- av·er·age·ness, noun
- sub·av·er·age, adjective
- sub·av·er·age·ly, adverb
- su·per·av·er·age, adjective
- su·per·av·er·age·ness, noun
- un·av·er·aged, adjective
- un·der·av·er·age, adjective
- well-av·er·aged, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use average in a sentence
As David Leonhardt points out in The New York Times, these averages can be misleading.
The Student Loan Crisis That Isn’t About Kids at Harvard | Monica Potts | November 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe averages about a word a minute, so it took Hawking a few minutes to respond.
Eddie Redmayne’s Time Has Come: On His Heartrending Turn as Stephen Hawking and Benedict Bromance | Marlow Stern | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTCassidy has hit 50 in a couple of recent polls, though he averages 48, 49.
Take one look at the Real Clear Politics 2016 Republican presidential nomination poll averages.
Wake Up, Republicans: Hillary Clinton’s Machine Can Crush You | Myra Adams | September 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIts daily ridership averages under 7,000, and runs along 10 routes.
Justice is surer and swifter in England, and as a consequence crime averages less than in most parts of the States.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car | Thomas D. MurphyThe latter has been productive of long scores and high averages, the former of little but long speeches and low language.
This measure was in itself oppressive, but it was made doubly so by the mode adopted for fixing the averages.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. | E. Farr and E. H. NolanThe ledges whose averages thus showed the colour, he marked on his map with a cross.
Blazed Trail Stories | Stewart Edward WhiteHe was the first sporting writer to keep separate averages for batters against right and lefthanded pitching.
The Boy Grew Older | Heywood Broun
British Dictionary definitions for average
/ (ˈævərɪdʒ, ˈævrɪdʒ) /
the typical or normal amount, quality, degree, etc: above average in intelligence
Also called: arithmetic mean the result obtained by adding the numbers or quantities in a set and dividing the total by the number of members in the set: the average of 3, 4, and 8 is 5
(of a continuously variable ratio, such as speed) the quotient of the differences between the initial and final values of the two quantities that make up the ratio: his average over the journey was 30 miles per hour
maritime law
a loss incurred or damage suffered by a ship or its cargo at sea
the equitable apportionment of such loss among the interested parties
(often plural) stock exchange a simple or weighted average of the prices of a selected group of securities computed in order to facilitate market comparisons
on average, on the average or on an average usually; typically: on average, he goes twice a week
usual or typical
mediocre or inferior: his performance was only average
constituting a numerical average: the average age; an average speed
approximately typical of a range of values: the average contents of a matchbox
(tr) to obtain or estimate a numerical average of
(tr) to assess the general quality of
(tr) to perform or receive a typical number of: to average eight hours' work a day
(tr) to divide up proportionately: they averaged the profits among the staff
(tr) to amount to or be on average: the children averaged 15 years of age
(intr) stock exchange to purchase additional securities in a holding whose price has fallen (average down) or risen (average up) in anticipation of a speculative profit after further increases in price
Origin of average
1Derived forms of average
- averagely, adverb
- averageness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for average
[ ăv′ər-ĭj ]
A number, especially the arithmetic mean, that is derived from and considered typical or representative of a set of numbers. Compare arithmetic mean median mode.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for average
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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